A Classical Coffee Shop
by ballonballon
Summary: A coffee shop AU! Josh Lyman is working behind the counter at a coffee shop with classical music playing over the speakers when Donna Moss comes in with a very specific coffee request for her boss.


Donna cursed and glanced down at her watch as her feet shuffled quickly across the leaf covered sidewalk. She was late. Very late. And she still needed coffee.

From experience, she knew her usual Starbucks would have a line that wrapped around the store at this point in the morning. She'd have to go to a less crowded shop, but what else was there? She mentally assessed her coffee options and a bright red sign popped up into her mind. The "Boston Barista". She passed by it every day on her walk into work and every day she sniggered at the boldness of the owner to so proudly proclaim their pride at being from another city while nestled so deep in DC territory.

While curious about the shop, she never stopped in because half her reason for getting coffee every morning was to get a cup for her boss. Toby Ziegler wasn't the easiest person to work for, but Donna had learned that giving him coffee made to very exact specifications every morning softened his mood and made him easier to be around. The coffee had to be bitter, but not enough to make Toby's eye twitch. The balance of sugar was precarious and had to be done just right. He was too particular to accept anything else. He wouldn't even touch anything else. He'd wave it away and Sam would eventually come and scoop it off his desk with a smirk to Donna.

Donna glanced at her watch again. She really didn't have time to wait in line at Starbucks. The Boston Barista would have to do. The line in there never looked too long. She would just have to make sure they got the order as close to what Toby likes as possible.

Donna pulled her coat a little tighter to herself and pushed on through the crisp, fall weather. Within a few minutes, the little bell above the door of the coffee shop announced her arrival.

Her cheeks rosy from the cold, she blew into her hands a few times to try and warm them up before taking her place in line. There were only a few people in front of her so hopefully she could get in and out quickly. It didn't take long for Donna to notice something off about her surroundings. Unlike most coffee shops that were filled with the music of up and coming indie bands or folk artists, Donna was hearing classical music reverberating from the speakers. It was a nice touch.

It was a small place, with large windows adoring two sides of the walls and exposed brick. The shop was right on the corner so you got a nice view of the street outside. The walls were a warm yellow and had large sections covered in chalkboards that were filled with drawings and words from customers. There were a few photographs hung on the wall of what Donna had to assume was Boston.

A man behind the counter caught her attention. His finger was lightly bouncing along in time with the music as he poured different ingredients into a coffee mug with a certain grace. A small smile came to Donna's lips as she watched him move along with the music. He wasn't dancing, but his movements were strangely in sync with the strings and piano.

He was dressed in a white t-shit and a red and black flannel that was rolled up at the sleeves. On his head was a beaten up, backwards baseball hat with a scruffy Mets logo on it. Donna was well acquainted with the Mets due to Toby's hatred of them. It amused her that this man would wear a Mets hat in a store that was clearly opened by a Boston native. He seemed to sense her staring as he took a quick glance up and they locked eyes.

Embarrassed at having been caught looking, Donna quickly looked down and busied herself with her bag. After a few seconds of pretending to look for something, she risked a sheepish glance in his direction and saw a pair of dimples on his cheeks, looking down now as he continued working on a drink.

Donna felt a strange, warm glow in her chest that she couldn't quite identify.

"Next!"

Donna walked up to the register and found a young girl, hair pulled into a messy bun.

"What can I get for you?"

Donna proceeded to list the very, very specific instructions for Toby and insisted that they please make it carefully.

"Actually, can I just write it down? I'm going to write it down." She rummaged in her purse for a few moments before pulling out a pad of sticky notes and a pen. She quickly scribbled down the instructions for how to make Toby's coffee and tore it off from the pad and handed it to the cashier, who took it with her mouth slightly agape.

"Anything else?" she asked, sounding nervous. Donna ordered a plain coffee for herself and tried to give a warm smile, but she'd already scared the girl. Donna handed over her card. While the girl ran it through the system, she felt her eyes drift to the man in the baseball hat again. This time she noticed curly brown hair escaping under his hat. There was the bang of a door opening harshly and a slight man in an apron walked out from the back room.

"Joshua, how many times do I have to tell you not to mess with the radio?" He was an older gentleman with grey hair and a slight accent. There was a towel slung over his shoulder.

Josh flicked a look over to him.

"What's wrong with it?"

"The customers don't want this music."

"How do you know?" he asked in challenge. There was a lazy smile on his face. His manager just rolled his eyes and busied himself at a console Donna guessed controlled the speaker system. The cashier handed her back her card and Donna moved down the line to where Josh was making the drinks. She saw him skeptically take the sticky note from the cashier.

"For what it's worth," Donna ventured over the glass partition, Josh's eyes immediately shot up. "I like the music."

"Yeah?" Josh asked happily, his dimples were showing again. Donna couldn't help but smile back at his enthusiasm.

"See, this woman here likes my music, Pete," Josh said across to the man messing with the radio.

"Get back to work, Joshua."

"He doesn't get it," Josh said with a shake of his head. Donna's eyes were fixed on his hands now as she saw him handling the coffee cup with "Toby" written on it.

"Did you hear what I was saying at the register?"

Josh lifted his gaze.

"Yeah, specific."

"My boss gets very grumpy when his coffee order is wrong. That's why I wrote the note" Donna said as ways of an explanation, she reached over the glass to point down at it sitting on the side table being largely ignored. Josh gave a short laugh.

"Sounds like a jerk."

"He's not all bad," Donna said with a coy smile. She enjoyed working for Toby. Mostly. "He'd hate your hat though."

"Well, now I know he's REALLY a jerk," Josh said with a little more force.

"Wait!" Donna said suddenly as she saw Josh reach for a large brownish bottle marked with a "C". It had to be caramel. "What are you doing?"

"Trust me," Josh said easily.

"I don't!" Donna said bluntly, her eyes wide.

"Come on," Josh was pouring it into the drink now.

"What happened to following the instructions I gave you?" Donna demanded.

"This way is better," Josh shrugged. Donna was finding it very hard to resist his dimples. She liked to think herself a woman that was hard to charm so to be taken down this easily was annoying her.

"And when he's upset his coffee is wrong?"

"He's not going to be upset!"

"You've never met him. He gets upset a lot."

"Again. A jerk."

"He doesn't get upset at me, more he gets upset at the... world," Donna said, with a small laugh. Toby was a hard person to explain to those who didn't know him.

"Whatever you say," Josh said shaking his head.

"Except not really, cause you're refusing to make the drink right," Donna shot back.

"Listen," Josh abandoned making the drink and leaned forward towards Donna with his palms down against the counter. "If he doesn't like it, come back tomorrow and I'll give you a free coffee done the way you want it. I promise."

Donna considered this a moment. The chances of Toby liking the drink were quite small, but she didn't hate the idea of coming back. She nodded.

"Deal." Josh gave a triumphant smile before putting a lid on Toby's coffee and handing it to Donna, dimples showing again.

As she left the coffee shop, she noticed the coffee she ordered tasted off too. There was a sweet combination of caramel and white chocolate in her drink and she couldn't deny it was tasty.

"Damn it," she said quietly to herself, despite the smile on her face. She secretly hoped Toby didn't like what Josh did to his drink.

"Hey."

Donna jumped at the sudden body to the right of her vision.

"Hey," she said, frazzled.

"Am I interrupting?" Sam asked with a laugh. Donna straightened up, smoothing down a bit of her sweater just for something to do.

"No, of course not, I'm sorry. It's just-" she noticed Toby moving towards his cup of coffee and she leaned forward in her seat to get a better look. Sam turned his attention to the spectacle now too. Toby was immersed in a paper and not looking in their direction.

"New coffee," Donna said quietly to Sam. Sam nodded knowingly.

"And yet?" Sam said eagerly as Toby picked up the coffee and took a sip. They held their breath and waited for the explosion, but none came. He actually looked rather pleased at the taste. Pleased meaning he didn't scowl at the coffee cup and slam it into the trash. He merely lifted an eyebrow and took a few more sips.

"This is unbelievable," Sam said in shock.

"Wow," Donna agreed. "He really did it."

"Who?" Sam asked.

"What?"

"Who did it?"

"No one," Donna said quickly.

"Donna-"

"No one!"

"Come on!" Sam demanded with a smile.

"The coffee guy, Sam, it's no big deal."

"Okay," Sam said, an amused look on his face. "I never said it was a big deal."

"I know," Donna said defensively. She couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that Toby took away her reason to go back to the Boston Barista.

"Donna?"

"Yeah?"

"You look disappointed that Toby liked the drink."

"No, I don't," Donna said dismissively.

"Do you have another crush on an old man with a newsboy cap?" Sam asked.

"Very funny, Sam."

"Just saying," Sam said with a laugh as her turned to go back into his office.

Walking home with arms full of notes and documents she had to review tonight, Donna paused outside of the Boston Barista again. She noticed the soft orange glow emanating from the windows and could smell an air of baked bread surrounding the building. There were a row of string lights decorating the awning that overlapped the door and the windows overlooking the street. The sign was still flipped to open.

Donna glanced through the window and felt a jolt of pleasure rush through her as she recognized the same man from this morning cleaning off a table. The shop had only a few patrons left inside.

Josh looked up upon hearing the bell jingle as Donna entered and a disbelieving smile came to his lips.

"Oh no, did he hate it?" Josh threw the rag he was cleaning the table with over his shoulder and turned to Donna with his arms crossed.

Donna gave him a coy smile back and crossed her own arms, looking down at her shoes briefly.

"He didn't actually."

Josh looked triumphant and hopped up to sit on the table he was cleaning.

"He liked it?"

"Apparently," Donna said back, trying not to indulge him too much.

"I told you!"

"I suppose so."

"So I won the bet," Josh said, still looking a little smug.

"What's your secret anyways?" Donna asked him. "It can't be just caramel."

Josh's legs were swinging from his spot on top of the table.

"I can't tell you that."

"Sure you can," Donna insisted.

"Nope!" Josh said lightly. He hopped off the table and moved towards the register.

"You did something to my drink too."

"I did."

"Do you just not give anyone what they ordered here then?" Donna had followed him to the register. Josh didn't answer this time, but looked sheepish.

"So what do you have there?" he asked, deflecting from Donna's question. His head tilted towards the binders and papers in Donna's arms.

"Oh, stuff for work," she said, waving a hand in the air.

"Are you going to work on it here?" Josh asked her, the lightest hint of hope in his voice.

"Oh, I-" Donna looked around the shop again.

"I mean you don't have to, but I could make you something if you wanted." Donna could have sworn Josh almost looked nervous. Donna stared at him for a few moments longer before nodding. She found she didn't want to leave just yet.

"Okay," she said. Josh's eyes lit up.

"Okay."

And with that, Donna picked a table overlooking the south side of the street and sat herself down, depositing her bag on the opposite chair and laying her materials across the tabletop. She noticed that the classical music was playing again. Vivaldi. She grabbed her first binder and immediately settled into her work.

It wasn't long before Josh arrived at her table again, a cup of coffee in hand. Donna smiled up at him and pulled her binder to her chest to make space.

"So what did you make me this time?" Donna asked curiously. Josh had made a cute leaf design in the foam.

"Can't tell you," Josh said, smirking. Donna rolled her eyes.

"So where do you work?" Josh asked her, his eyes glancing over her papers. Feeling slightly protective of it, she put her arms out over it to try and cover some of the words. Josh took the hint and looked up at her apologetically.

"The White House?" he asked.

Donna nodded. Josh's face seemed to fall into lines of misery at the mention of the White House.

"Not a fan of the President?" Donna asked carefully. She'd had one too many conversations with Republicans who wanted her to know their opinions.

"Of Bartlet? I love him."

"Oh," Donna said, pleasantly surprised. Josh looked distracted now, watching a couple stroll down the sidewalk across the street.

"Well, I'll let you get back to work," Josh said quietly. His whole demeanor had changed. His bright and bubbly disposition was now replace with one that seemed as though the weight of the world was on his shoulders. He moved behind the counter and started cleaning up some of the machines.

Donna frowned, unsure at what she did wrong. Why had the mention of the White House upset him if her was a fan of the President? Her coffee now cool enough to enjoy, she took a sip and was immediately impressed again by the drink Josh had made.

Donna got back to work and time ticked by quickly. The sun had just been setting when she entered the coffee shop, but now it was pitch black outside. She checked her watch and registered that she had been working away for about 40 minutes. She was surprised that she had had no further contact with Josh.

She looked up from her table and searched for him around the shop. She realized with a jolt that she was the last one in there. Josh was stacking chairs on top of tables across the room. Quickly packing up her stuff, Donna finished up the last of her coffee. She grabbed her wallet and made her way over to the register.

"What're you doing?" Josh asked her.

"Waiting to pay for my coffee," Donna replied. Josh laughed to himself.

"Don't worry about it."

"It's really-"

"This is to apologize for not listening to your instructions earlier," Josh said, the ease with which he spoke earlier had returned.

"So you do recognize that it was rude," Donna said triumphantly.

"Doesn't mean I wasn't right though," Josh said. Donna rolled her eyes.

"You're sure you don't want me to pay?"

"Course I'm sure."

"Thank you," she said kindly, a genuine smile on her face. She glanced down at her watch. "I guess I'll get out of your hair and let you close up."

Josh's smile faded at that.

"I guess."

"Maybe I'll see you around," Donna said after a moment, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. Josh looked up, a twinkle in his eye.

"I hope so."

Donna looked down at her feet shyly before shooting him one last smile and heading towards the door.

"See you around."

"See ya."


End file.
